November 7, 1999
Rev Andrea Harrison
Hebrew Scripture Reading: Genesis 4:1-16
Gospel Reading: Matthew 5:1,2,9
"On July 4th, 1863, and in the days immediately following the conflict, Gettysburg was a town with a substantial problem. The living population was outnumbered by that of the dead. Over 6,000 bodies lay in the fields and hills, crumpled among the boulders on Little Round Top, or wedged in the rock crevices of Devil’s Den. Immediate action was necessary. The hot July sun caused the bodies to decompose rapidly. Soldiers and civilian volunteers hastily dug thousands of shallow graves, often burying men where they had fallen or placing them in long rows of shallow trenches. In doing so, they did not take into account the elements. When it came, rain quickly washed away the scanty layers of soil above the interred dead, and what the showers did not disturb, local farmers did. These were fields where more than bodies had to be sown. Later as farmers plowed their land in preparation for crops, they uncovered more bodies.
We are very fortunate to live in a time and a country where our farmers don’t have to worry about turning up skeletons, or massed graves, or landmines in the fields. But we shouldn’t take peace for granted. We need to be constantly working to maintain a peaceful society. Just look at the community of Burnt Church. One day, native and non-native peoples are living side by side, civilly at least, if not as friends. The next day there is fighting, destruction of property, and clear lines of opposition between neighbours. A long awaited court decision came down in the Marshall case, and there were no contingency plans to peacefully manage such a ruling. Better to have forethought and maintain peace, than try to intervene once a war is waging.
I don’t think we appreciate how lucky we are that the "No" vote in the last Quebec referendum won by ½ a percent. As far as I can tell, there were, and still are, no contingency plans as to how Quebec might peacefully and fairly become a sovereign nation. When we were in Gettysburg, Bill commented that when the Supreme Court was deliberating Quebec’s right to make a unilateral declaration of independence, he had often heard Americans on CBC phone-ins saying that Quebec should just do as the Americans had done, and declare themselves a separate nation, without all this legal banter and politicing. It was suggested that Quebec take a page out of the American history book; but what page, and what cost. The American move to declare independence from Britain, we should not forget, resulted in the War of Independence. Bill suggested that an even better analogy was that of the Confederate states trying to succede, to separate from the United States of America, with the four year war, and the 600,000 soldiers who died in pursuit of that ambition. Just imagine if the border with Quebec became a war zone, not to mention the violence that could occur between French and English neighbourhoods, or between French and Native regions.
Surely peace is worth the efforts at negotiating, defining legal rights & consequences. Much as we in Ontario might like to think of Quebec as the spoiled brat in the federal family, given too many federal treats, perhaps that is a reasonable price to pay for peace. Imagine what it is like to be in a country where land is being traded for peace – perhaps the land on which your house is built. There is a price for peace!
Perhaps the scare of the close referendum vote in Quebec has mobilized behind the scenes discussions, negotiations, and plans, hopefully other than just sending in the military and declaring martial law.
What wisdom does our text from Genesis offer us as we consider our need to be peacekeepers? The book of Genesis is full of what I would call "mythic tales" – stories that are not about historical accuracy, but about conveying timeless wisdom. You may have noted, for example, that there are two entirely different creation stories at the beginning of Genesis – a discovery I didn’t make until theological college. You may also have noted that when Cain went out to settle in the land of Nod, east of Eden, God put a mark on him so no one would kill him – ie. there were other people around, not just Adam and Eve, their dead son Abel, and their banished son, Cain.
Cain and Abel come into conflict because they are treated unfairly by God. God accepts, with pleasure, Abel’s offering of the firstlings of his flock, and holds Abel in regard. God has no regard for Cain and his offering, however. God then has the audacity to ask Cain why he is angry and depressed, and tells Cain that if he does well, he will be accepted (loved?), but that if he does not do well, he could be overtaken by sin. I don’t believe God actually plays nasty games like that, but life certainly does.
If you remember back to the war against Iraq, there were newspaper articles trying to profile Sadam Hussein’s childhood, to try to determine influences in his life that had caused him to become the evil person we saw him as.
Being a peacemaker begins in our families. If we love our children, and don’t set one child up against the other, as God did with Cain and Abel, if we impart attitudes of respect and compassion, if we negotiate our way through conflicts, and try to act fairly, then we are cultivating peace and peacemakers in our home.
Beyond our immediate family, there are wider circles of family, friends, community – work, school, church, arena… . Peace can break down in any of these relationships – family members who don’t speak to each other for years, committees or organizations that become rife with infighting or distrust. People can become disenfranchized, and get angry or depressed, like Cain.
It’s not easy to keep the peace. It’s not easy to keep everyone in the family happy or relating harmoniously. This is the story of human existence since the beginning of time. But in the mythic story of Cain and Abel, there is a grain of hope. In the words of the writer, we hear God saying to Cain, "If you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but [and here’s the crunch] you must master it" – you must master sin.
Within the human community, there is the ability to overcome conflict, depression, anger. Within our families, God calls us to help each other overcome these challenges. Then if we were to think of all of the communities of people, of which we are a part – school, work, committees, church, arena … Glengarry County, Ontario, Canada, the world, then maybe we would have a little more compassion and tolerance.
If we work on our peacekeeping skills at home, and foster a love of peace, then maybe each of us can take those skills and desire for peace into all of our family and community circles. If the next Quebec referendum resulted in a "Yes" vote, would you, and your children, and your children’s children be peacemakers, or would you get caught up in the violent sentiments and add fuel to the flames. "Sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it."
God has given humanity a tremendous capacity for war and violence, but God has also sown seeds of peace in each one of us – small little seeds that we need to cultivate as part of the larger project of building peace in our world. And God, the master gardener, will work with us on this most ambitious, collective effort. Amen.
